Note<\/strong>:<\/strong>\u00a0The writer of this article is not a lawyer, and any advice included in this article should not be taken as legal counsel.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been writing professionally for several years, and it\u2019s allowed me to learn about a huge variety of subjects: I\u2019ve been lucky enough to have interviewed everyone from politicians, traditional healers, crime scene cleaning experts and more. It\u2019s also taught me a lot about the law, something few people think about when they imagine a career writer.\u00a0But legal matters are vitally important for writers.<\/em><\/p>\n How do I know that I own the copyright on my work? How do I set up a contract with a publishing house or client? \u00a0What rights am I selling? What will happen to my body of work when I pass away? These are all questions I\u2019ve received from writers over the years. This article aims to answer a few of these legal questions so you know exactly what to do \u2013 and what you can\u2019t.<\/p>\n At its most basic, copyright works like this: You own the copyright to a work (whether writing, sculpture or a painting) the moment that you\u2019ve put it into creation.\u00a0The crux of copyright infringement cases is proving the object in question\u2019s original creation date in court.\u00a0<\/em>Yes, this means that time-stamps, date-stamps and e-mails matter.<\/p>\n Mailing it to yourself is a commonly repeated manner of protecting your own copyright, but there are times when this hasn\u2019t stood up in court \u2013 and do you want to take that risk if it happens? You can have a manuscript individually copyrighted, or you can have a copy of your manuscript certified at your nearest court or police station \u2013 legally declaring, under oath, that the manuscript is yours.<\/p>\n And, of course, don\u2019t spread your writing all over inbox before it\u2019s been published; instances of plagiarism can be minimized with some healthy precaution.<\/p>\n Most freelance writers will receive a brief from their editors once a pitch has been approved; this becomes true in fiction, too. In many cases, the publication will require you to sign a\u00a0Contributor\u2019s Contract<\/strong>\u00a0and send it back to them: This usually contains the information about the publication, the author, the piece in question and the rights being sold \u2013 pay attention here!<\/p>\n In other cases,\u00a0the brief you receive is valid as a contract.\u00a0<\/strong>Thus, you want to make sure that your brief contains the necessary information about payment, word count and publication dates \u2013 if anything isn\u2019t mentioned, be sure to ask.<\/p>\n Other times, a writing contract will have to be set up between author and publication, or sometimes between author and ghostwriter. Here, it\u2019s always better to consult legal advice rather than be burned later: You can have someone set up a standard freelancing contract for your clients. Make sure that it contains all the information related to the project, including word count, delivery times, cancellation clauses \u2013 and what happens if you are ill or unable to complete the project; this kind of thing can happen, too!<\/p>\n Never<\/strong>\u00a0sign a contract on the spur of the moment, even if you think you\u2019ve read all of it through. Take it home, read it again, sleep on it and ask your lawyer. This will save you countless time later on.<\/p>\n You should\u00a0always<\/em>\u00a0take note of what rights you\u2019re selling when submitting your work. This is usually available on the publication\u2019s website, or ask if you aren\u2019t sure.<\/p>\n Do you have a client that refuses to pay your invoice? This happens to a lot of freelancers. First,\u00a0be sure to always submit an invoice.\u00a0<\/strong>This is your legal agreement that a service has been ordered and that payment is outstanding. If the payment is not made, you have the right to\u00a0re-submit the invoice again<\/strong>. For most, this is enough.<\/p>\n If this still gets no response, your next recourse will be a Letter of Demand, which states your case and gives them a reasonable time in which to settle the account. Your next recourse if this remains unsuccessful, approach a legal professional or the court for a civil claim.<\/p>\n For plagiarism to stand up in court, it has to be proved that a piece was taken from another piece word for word, or written with enough similarities that confusion and association becomes likely. Most parodies are exempt from being called plagiarism, and instead fall under the laws of Fair Use \u2013 if it can be proved that it\u2019s a commentary of the piece, not a reproduction.<\/p>\n Autoplagiarism<\/em>\u00a0is plagiarising yourself. In technical terms, this means reusing your own published words verbatim and without attribution somewhere else.\u00a0If a piece has been published somewhere else, always ensure you have the permissions to reproduce the piece, and always attribute the source \u2013 yes, even if the original source was you to begin with.<\/em><\/p>\n If you\u2019ve spotted your own work being plagiarised, your first step is to contact the publication or website (with the original source) and ask for a take-down in a reasonable manner and time.<\/p>\n Also inform the original publication or publisher of this infringement. If the website or publication doesn\u2019t comply with a take-down, your next recourse will be to visit a legal professional, who will likely proceed with a Cease and Desist Letter.<\/p>\n You should always have an updated will and testament \u2013 or in the event of the death, you will have no control of what happens to your assets, or your work. In the case of writers, your will is likely going to look a little different.<\/p>\n People should always appoint an executor to their will: The executor takes care of all the paperwork and the arrangements.\u00a0But writers should appoint a literary executor in addition to their first executor to administrate only things that have to do with their writing, like distributing royalties or selling rights.\u00a0<\/em>It goes without saying that you should choose someone whom you trust to handle your work after you\u2019re gone.<\/p>\n Can you mention others in your work?\u00a0This is sometimes a legal gray area.\u00a0<\/em>While you can mention historical events and people in your work (i.e. Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter or Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), you should\u00a0always<\/em>\u00a0err on the side of caution when we\u2019re talking about real life people.<\/p>\n If not, basing fiction on real-life people (or outright mentioning them), can lead to defamation lawsuits, cease and desist letters and fiction being pulled from publication entirely \u2013 among others. (Again, if it can stand up in court that the resemblance is obvious, there will likely be a valid case here.)<\/p>\n Also remember that your work could have many real-life consequences that you didn\u2019t think of when you wrote it. And, it can happen to anyone: Author James Patterson was working on a novel about a crazed killer who goes after Stephen King, but decided that it was a very, very bad idea once he realized that it might inspire someone to\u00a0actually<\/em>\u00a0harm King or his family.<\/p>\n If you want to mention an excerpt of a movie, song or other book in your work, it\u2019s always best to get written permission from the original copyright owner before you do so. Yes, even if you are self-published.\u00a0Not doing this is asking for a lawsuit, even if you think it\u2019s just a quick mention or figure that it will go unnoticed.\u00a0<\/em>The front copyright-notice of many novels have a page\u00a0just<\/em>\u00a0for copyright notices \u2013 and this is, of course, with very good reason. For songs, music and movies, contact the distributor or publisher for permission first.\u00a0If you\u2019re selling the book, it doesn\u2019t automatically fall under Fair Use.<\/em><\/p>\n When collaborating with other authors for your work \u2013 think of the often-collaborative Patterson as one example \u2013 then it\u2019s important to have a contributors contract set up\u00a0beforehand.\u00a0<\/em>This should include who contributes what and who gets paid what; it should also include information about who gets to publish the work \u2013 and legal background for what happens if this doesn\u2019t take place, or one party needs to opt out of the contract.<\/p>\n Do you have more questions about writers and copyright that hasn\u2019t been covered here? I\u2019m happy to help where I can! Get in touch for questions, comments, hate mail or more.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","categories":[22],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nContracts for Writers: Selling Your Work<\/h2>\n
Explaining Copyright<\/h4>\n
Briefs and Writing Contracts<\/h4>\n
Selling Rights<\/h4>\n
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Defending Your Work & More<\/h2>\n
When Clients Don\u2019t Pay<\/h4>\n
Plagiarism<\/h4>\n
Your Will<\/h4>\n
Your Work & Others<\/h2>\n
Mentioning Others<\/h4>\n
Mentioning Excerpts<\/h4>\n
Collaborative Writing<\/h4>\n
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